Dev Bootcamp to close after graduating final class in December

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Dev Bootcamp, the early coding bootcamp, announced last week that it would close on December 8 of this year, stating in an email that "we simply cannot reach a sustainable business model without compromising our mission of delivering a high-quality coding education that remains accessible to a diverse population of students,” EdSurge reports.

The company was acquired by Kaplan in 2014, a move that it said on Twitter bought it additional time to try and find a viable business model could maintain a high level of quality, but a tuition price of $12,700 to $13,950 for an 18-week program wasn't enough to cover day-to-day operations costs at its campuses, current president Tarlin Ray told EdSurge in an email.

The last group of students in the bootcamp will start in July and graduate in December, and Dev Bootcamp is promising "at least six months" of career services and support following their completion.

But with over 400 companies now in the bootcamp space, it was inevitable that a time would come when competition would begin to narrow the field.

Additionally, Dev Bootcamp's stated reasoning for closure — an inability to cover the cost of day-to-day operations while seeking a sustainable business model that maintained quality — begs the question of whether the potential for federal financial aid dollars in this sector could change the game. Such funding would likely boost sustainability while carrying conditions around quality, addressing the issue that led to Dev Bootcamp's shuttering. That, however, is a question for if and when that financial access comes.